[refurb]

A few thoughts since I worked for a biotech company.

R&D management sure as hell looks at the potential returns generated. I've been on projects where the company said "we're going to spend out $500M in R&D funds on this disease because we might actually make our money back. The other disease is off the table since we can't even break-even."

Yes, a lot of basic research is funded by the gov't, but that's minuscule compared to the funding the companies themselves put in. I sat in a meeting when a decision was made to move a promising compound forward. The investment? $400M for all activities post-phase 3. The NIH grants that supported the discovery? Maybe a few million?